Category Archives: Hotel Employees

Hospitality Industry Management Update: “Hotel Housekeepers Are at Great Risk for Sexual Assault From Guests”

“Women described men who insisted they close the door while cleaning, grabbed their hands as they handed over change and asked where they could “find a girl.”housekeeper-387x580 Kensbock and her colleagues identified a few factors that put women in the hotel industry at a heightened risk for sexual harassment, including the “gendered” nature of their work as housekeepers and their lack of power relative to the guests…Most of the women in Kensbock’s study coped with harassment using passive strategies, like humor or deflection. Though the hotel management had protocols they could follow to report inappropriate behavior, women—fearing guests would retaliate by leaving negative surveys—rarely complained.”

When Dominique Strauss-Kahn was accused of assaulting Nafissatou Diallo, the maid who was sent to clean his hotel room, hospitality workers thought the story seemed all-too-plausible. In a New York Times op-ed, Jacob Tomsky, a veteran of the hotel industry, wrote that housekeepers are assaulted by guests “more often than you’d think,” and that their employers don’t offer much protection. In a recent account on xoJane, an anonymous woman describes a decade’s worth of sexual harassment in different parts of the hotel industry—from working the front desk to cleaning rooms. It’s so systemic, she says, that the women developed coordinated strategies to cope with it—like enlisting other housekeepers to stay with them when they’re assigned to clean the room of a “known pervert.”

For more: http://bit.ly/124uEO7

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Filed under Crime, Guest Issues, Hotel Employees, Hotel Industry, Management And Ownership, Risk Management

Hospitality Industry Legal Update: “W Hotel Chain Friendly to Prostitutes, New Jersey Couple’s Legal Filing Claims”

Anna Burgese says she was attacked early last year in the lobby of a South Beach W Hotel by drunken hookers80629236 who mistakenly believed she was competition. She and her husband say they hired undercover agents to visit W Hotels all over the country, according to Philadelphia Daily News, and found prostitution runs rampant.

The W Hotel chain openly allows prostitution in their facilities, a New Jersey couple claims in a recent legal filing obtained by the Philadelphia Daily News.

Anna Burgese of Medford, N.J., says she was attacked early last year in the lobby of a South Beach W Hotel by drunken hookers who mistakenly believed she was competition. The attack was captured on surveillance video.

As a result, Anna Burgese and husband Joseph say they hired undercover agents to visit W Hotels all over the country, according to the newspaper.

The legal filing claims that they found that prostitution runs rampant in the hotels and even found that a sex worker at one W Hotel “used the concierge desk to charge her cellphones and store her purse.”

For more: http://nydn.us/1w27joR

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Filed under Crime, Employee Practices, Guest Issues, Hotel Employees, Hotel Industry, Liability, Management And Ownership, Risk Management

Hospitality Industry OSHA Update: “Updates to OSHA’s Recordkeeping Rule”

“OSHA will now receive crucial reports of fatalities and severe work-related injuries and illnesses that will significantly osha-logoenhance the agency’s ability to target our resources to save lives and prevent further injury and illness. This new data will enable the agency to identify the workplaces where workers are at the greatest risk and target our compliance assistance and enforcement resources accordingly.”

-Assistant Secretary of Labor for Occupational Safety and Health, Dr. David Michaels OSHA’s updated recordkeeping rule expands the list of severe injuries that employers must report to OSHA.

As of January 1, 2015, all employers must report

  1. All work-related fatalities within 8 hours.
  2. All work-related inpatient hospitalizations, all amputations and all losses of an eye within 24 hours.

You can report to OSHA by

  1. Calling OSHA’s free and confidential number at 1-800-321-OSHA (6742).
  2. Calling your closest Area Office during normal business hours.
  3. Using the new online form that will soon be available.

Only fatalities occurring within 30 days of the work-related incident must be reported to OSHA. Further, for an in-patient hospitalization, amputation or loss of an eye, these incidents must be reported to OSHA only if they occur within 24 hours of the work-related incident.

For more: http://1.usa.gov/1oJPwyW

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Filed under Claims, Employee Practices, Hotel Employees, Hotel Industry, Management And Ownership, Risk Management

Hospitality Industry Management Update: “Legionnaires’ Disease: Awareness and Prevention” (Video)

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Filed under Food Illnesses, Guest Issues, Health, Hotel Employees, Hotel Industry, Management And Ownership, Risk Management

Hospitality Industry Legal Update: “Hotel Industry Threatens Legal Action Over New Wage Law”

Supporters dispute claims that the move was intended to help labor groups increase membership and say the higherLA mayor wages will lift working families out of poverty. Under the law, hotels with union workers can be exempted from the $15.37 hourly wage if workers agree…City Hall leaders on Wednesday rejected the criticisms. Councilman Mike Bonin, who advocated passage of the law, questioned the prediction that 533 hotel jobs will be lost in his Westside district.

Ratcheting up their opposition to a new law requiring larger hotels to pay workers $15.37 an hour, representatives for the hotel industry on Wednesday threatened to sue the city over the ordinance.

Standing outside Los Angeles City Hall, hotel operators and business leaders said they are considering a lawsuit based on federal laws. They also released new numbers predicting 1,488 jobs — including at least 140 in the San Fernando Valley — would be lost as Los Angeles hotels lay off workers to compensate for the wage hike.

For more: http://bit.ly/1ugf6kx

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Filed under Employee Benefits, Hotel Employees, Hotel Industry, Management And Ownership, Risk Management

Hospitality Industry Management Update: “Council to Vote on $15.37 Minimum Wage for Workers at Big Hotels”

“Several council members favor the increase, including Councilman Curren Price, who said it would make Los Angeles hotel workers wages“a progressive leader” for the nation…Some business groups warn that hotels could be forced to cut jobs if the plan passes. They cited a city-requested report released Monday that said hotel developers will bypass Los Angeles if the ordinance is approved.”

The drive to boost minimum wages in Los Angeles could reach a milestone this week as the City Council votes on a proposal to raise the hourly pay of thousands of workers at big hotels to at least $15.37.

That would be more than $2 an hour higher than the minimum wage Mayor Eric Garcetti is advocating for workers citywide.

Labor groups are rallying behind the plan now before lawmakers, saying that it could pull hotel workers’ families out of poverty and inject more spending into the local economy. Several council members favor the increase, including Councilman Curren Price, who said it would make Los Angeles “a progressive leader” for the nation.

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Filed under Employee Benefits, Hotel Employees, Hotel Industry, Management And Ownership

Hospitality Industry Legal Update: “Arizona Lawmakers Want Background Checks for Hotel Workers”

“…The attorneys say less than nine months later, in June 2012, the same night clerk raped another woman who was a guest at the hotel, again using the master key to gain access.Arizona They say there is an additional police report from Illinois that claims the man, again working as a night clerk, used the master key to enter her room and attempt to sexually assault her. Neither attorney knew of the man’s current location…”

Hobbs said the existing sex-offender laws — those that dictate where an offender can live and work — are in place to keep the public safe and aware.

“It is unthinkable that this registered offender has exploited loopholes in the law to gain access to sleeping hotel guests and to reoffend,” she said.

Friday’s press conference was the first time the prospect of legislative efforts on the issue had been brought to the attention of the Arizona Lodging & Tourism Association, and officials were unaware of what a proposal would entail, said Kristen Jarnagin, senior vice president of the trade group.

For more: http://bit.ly/1nLAvMG

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Filed under Crime, Employee Practices, Guest Issues, Hotel Employees, Hotel Industry, Liability, Management And Ownership, Risk Management

Hospitality Industry Management Update: “Mayor Eric Garcetti Announces Minimum Wage Proposal for Los Angeles”

The proposal comes as the Los Angeles City Council is considering raising the wages of non-unionized hotel workers to $15.37 per hour.LA mayor Hotels near LAX that do not provide health care are already required to pay their employees a similar wage. Hotel operators that do offer health insurance must pay workers about $11 per hour. 

Following in the footsteps of cities like Seattle and San Francisco, Mayor Eric Garcetti made a Labor Day pitch for an increase, over the next three years, in the Los Angeles minimum wage to more than $13 per hour.

The mayor made the announcement in a South L.A. park at what’s billed as a “rally to address poverty in Los Angeles.”  His proposal would increase the city’s minimum wage to $13.25 an hour by 2017 and then tie the wage to the Consumer Price Index for urban wage earners.

For more: http://bit.ly/1uAHNqs

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Filed under Employee Benefits, Hotel Employees, Hotel Industry, Labor Issues, Management And Ownership

Hospitality Industry Management Update: “Someone’s Been Shot at Your Hotel. What Should Management Do Next?”

“…A full evacuation of a hotel property typically isn’t necessary unless there is a roaming shooter,NOLA Shooter he said. Even then, Cahn’s advice to anybody staying at a hotel when a violent outburst occurs is to remain in place until directed otherwise by police. People pouring into the hallways to leave could give a shooter more targets…”

When a gunman holes up in a hotel room with one or more other people, as happened Sunday at the Westin Canal Place in New Orleans where police said a man shot a friend before killing himself, the first task of hotel management, after making sure police are en route, is to usher other guests someplace safe and comfortable, hotel security specialist Mike Cahn said on Monday.

For more: http://bit.ly/1yArFWE

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Filed under Crime, Employee Practices, Hotel Employees, Hotel Industry, Management And Ownership, Risk Management, Training

Hospitality Industry Management Update: “As Marijuana Becomes Legal in More States, How Should Employers Handle Positive Drug Tests?”

“…Hospitality employers also need to be aware of potential violations of the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) associated with medical marijuana.  Employers with facilities in states that allow medical marijuana use may need to provide a reasonable accommodation under the ADA for employees with a valid doctor’s authorization. 042314_acuna_marijuana_640 For instance, the New York statute permitting medical marijuana use automatically classifies every individual who is considered a Certified Patient as disabled.  Therefore, New York employers must engage in an interactive process with the employee to determine whether they need to provide the employee with a reasonable accommodation…”

Due to the ever changing laws surrounding the legality of marijuana, many of our hospitality clients have recently asked us whether it is lawful to terminate an employee who has tested positive for marijuana.  The answer varies greatly depending on the state in which you are located.

States continue to pass legislation legalizing marijuana use for specific purposes.  On July 5, 2014, New York became the twenty-first state along with the District of Columbia to legalize marijuana use for certain medical conditions—joining Alaska, Arizona, California, Connecticut, Delaware, Hawaii, Illinois, Maine, Maryland, Massachusetts, Michigan, Minnesota, Montana, Nevada, New Hampshire, New Jersey, New Mexico, New York, Oregon, Rhode Island, and Vermont.  Two other states, Colorado and Washington, have legalized recreational marijuana use for individuals who are 21 years old or older, and Alaska and Oregon currently have similar legislation pending.

For more: http://bit.ly/1Bek1W8

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Filed under Employee Practices, Hotel Employees, Hotel Industry, Management And Ownership